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It will work - depends on how low of a temp you plan on going with this setup and how good of a bag you have. I've used a bag in the BMB with different mat combinations, and it's OK. Test it when you get yours, and see if it works for you. Like I say, it's OK, and I could do it for awhile.

A UQ works best in a BMB - you are basically cocooned with all that fluffy down warmth around your sides. Throw a nice down top blanket, and you have everything you need to get you down pretty far temp-wise. Add some kind of Mat to the UQ combination, and it is toasty warm goodness all around.

My setup is only slightly different. I have a DIY bridge rather than a BMBH and I use a WalMart CCF pad which is 24" wide. It works great. I slip the pad in between the two layers of the hammock and it's off to sleep. Great insulation on the bottom and very comfortable IMHO. I don't think I'd like an underquilt any better. Now in a conventional hammock the opposite would be true. It's hard to position the pad right and to stay on top of it during the night. But in the bridge it's easy and comfortable.

Would a sleeping bag/pad combo be warmer than a UQ/Top blanket for a given weight? It seems like a sleeping bag would be more efficient since it is a tighter fit. Probably not as comfortable but warmer?

I have found the UQ to be much warmer than a bag/pad combo, IMO. Now, if I had an Exped DownMat, that might be a different story. I started as just a pad/bag guy, but as long as I have a UQ, I will use it over a pad/bag combo anytime.

The reason I'm asking is I'm a car camper and I don't have a lightweight sleeping bag. I'm trying to decide whether to buy a sleeping bag or UQ. Also if the hammock doesn't work for me I want to try a tarp tent. So I'm trying to do this without spending money on stuff I don't need.

I have found the UQ to be much warmer than a bag/pad combo, IMO. Now, if I had an Exped DownMat, that might be a different story. I started as just a pad/bag guy, but as long as I have a UQ, I will use it over a pad/bag combo anytime.

You're right. I tried it for real saturday night. It got down to the upper 30's. I was really cold. It was a lonnngggg night! It felt like I was sleeping on a block of ice.

You're right. I tried it for real saturday night. It got down to the upper 30's. I was really cold. It was a lonnngggg night! It felt like I was sleeping on a block of ice.

So you are saying that using the Ridgerest in the upper 30s, it was too cold? Did you happen to notice if you were cold only under your back, or was it your legs and feet also? ( I'm assuming that inadequate top insulation played no part, no drafts causing cold when you tried to use a bag as a quilt?

Anyway, if it was just your back that was cold, just take a 1/2 length $6 Walmart blue pad and put it under ( or on top) of that Ridgerest. That should make a big difference. If it was also your feet and legs, use it full length.

If you think you need full width ( were your arms and shoulders cold?), just cut that WM pad into 2 or more 25" widths and insert into the JRB so that they cover from side to side. Good luck!

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us....that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
Romans 8:18,21-22